Floyd Mayweather Jr | Floyd Sr Fires Back for Hurtful Comments

Responding to his son's recent, less-than-complimentary remarks about his father and childhood, Floyd Mayweather Sr fired back.

In an interview with FightSaga earlier this week, the elder Floyd Mayweather quipped, "Why does he keep trying to hurt me?"

For the last twenty years, the relationship between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Floyd Sr has been marked by long periods of estrangement followed by eventual reconciliation and remorse. The pattern, to date, remains cyclical.

The Floyd Mayweather Jr/Sr father-son relationship, very chaotic and sometimes extremely public, seemingly climaxed in September 2011 when father and son tore into each other using obscenity-laced language during HBO's airing of Mayweather vs Ortiz 24/7, re-igniting what had presumably been settled, pre-existing feuds from years past.

"Once I got old enough to pay my own bills, I let him know I didn't need him anymore. ... The main thing I learned was to believe in yourself. You have to. Because no one else will," said Floyd Jr, according to a LA Times article published last week.

And while relationships in the Mayweather clan have been marked with volatility since Floyd Jr's childhood, Floyd Mayweather Sr is credited with introducing his son to boxing and was, perhaps, the catalyst who sparked a flame that would eventually thrust his son into sports immortality and immense wealth.

Sensing his son would one day be someone special, the senior Mayweather claims to have refused opportunities to train other gifted fighters, and perhaps future world champions, in order to give his son extra attention.

Pictured: Floyd Mayweather Jr weigh-ins prior to his superfight with Miguel Cotto tonight.Courtesy of World Boxing Council

"I had several kids brought to me that I looked at and I thought they had potential to be really good, I turned them down because I wanted to put all my focus on my son, man. I gave him everything I had," said Floyd Mayweather Sr in his interview last week with FightSaga.

"I trained little Floyd when he won the Golden Gloves National Championship. He never had no other trainer before that and I also was training him when he won his first world title," asserted the dejected but forceful father.

"Everything you see little Floyd doing today he was doing when he was twelve years old. I taught him everything you see him doin now. I was little Floyd's trainer until he was 16 years old.

"When you see him fighting, you see me."

"Roger Mayweather, my brother, took over after that. But by that time, I had taught him everything you see him doing today. He already had it when Roger got him," as reported by the LA Times.

"This is what my nephew was born to do. There are certain things a father does for his child to show that he loves him. And whatever gifts Floyd got from his father when he was young, he is fighting on those gifts today."

Nevertheless Floyd Mayweather Jr, who often harkins back to his poverty-stricken, drama-filled childhood, seemingly blames his father - at least partially - for the rough childhood the younger Mayweather was forced to endure.

"I never had a stable home," said Floyd Mayweather Jr as quoted by the LA Times. "My mom did drugs. My dad tried to live his career through me. Then he went to prison (for selling drugs).

But the elder Mayweather, citing his responsibilities as a father, has a different take on his prison situation.

"Even though his daddy did sell drugs, I didn't deprive my son," Floyd Sr. uttered last fall, according to NYDailyNews.

"He had plenty of food. He had the best clothes and I gave him money. He didn't want for anything. Anybody in Grand Rapids can tell you that I took care of my kids."

In his interview with FightSaga, the elder Floyd Mayweather added:

"Man, when I was coming up as a fighter I didn't have anybody looking out for me. All the time I was fighting, I still had to hustle to get money because I had kids to feed. I wanted to make sure that little Floyd didn't have to do that when he was coming up. That's one of the reasons he's as good as he is today."

Floyd Sr also attempted to set the record straight about a perceived misconception regarding the time of his incarceration.

"When I went away (to prison) he wasn't no baby, man, he was 16 years old. You listen to him and he makes people start to crying cause they think he was on his own when he was still in diapers or something. That ain't the way it was."

Although Floyd Mayweather Jr has made negative remarks about his father in the past, some argue his latest comments about his Floyd Sr and his difficult childhood were recently regurgitated to deflect public criticism stemming from Floyd Jr's latest brush with the law.

On December 21, 2011, the sports mega-star was ordered to serve 90 days in jail as a result of pleading guilty to domestic violence battery and harassment charges. According to reports, Floyd Mayweather Jr admitted to hitting his ex-girlfriend, the mother of two of his children, and twisting her arm. The incident purportedly occurred in plain view of their young children.

Last month, Floyd Mayweather Jr and his father, Floyd Sr, reunited at the former's gym. They shared an embrace and a seemingly awkward and uncomfortable handshake as reported by The Los Angeles Times. The visit purportedly served as their first meeting since their public verbal altercation last year prior to Mayweather vs Ortiz in September.

So why did Floyd Mayweather Sr recently visit his son's gym? According to the elder Mayweather, he was there because he loves his son.

Every loving father wants to see his son's achievements surpass his own and Floyd Mayweather Sr, despite his long-standing, tumultuous relationship with his son, was seemingly instrumental in making Floyd Mayweather Jr the man he is today – One of the greatest sportsmen of all-time and a ridiculously wealthy man whose generosity has extended far beyond his inner circle.

Floyd Mayweather Jr may have far surpassed his father as a fighter, revenue generator and charitable giver, but he hasn't surpassed him as a human being.

"If anyone tried to hurt my son, I'd be the first one there for him. He's my son. l Iove my son. I don't know why he keeps talking. [It's] all talk man. There ain't no one that cares more about him than I do. He's my blood."